Rep. Mike McCaul: ISIS Is 'Winning Game in Town' for Jihadists

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said Wednesday that the Islamic State (ISIS) was "the winning game in town" — enabling the group to attract and radicalize young people in the United States and around the world.

"ISIS is the greatest threat," the Texas Republican told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. "In the radical Islamist jihad world, you're seeing more and more recruits going to ISIS rather than al-Qaida.

"This is not [Osama] bin Laden anymore," McCaul said.

The six-term congressman noted FBI Director James Comey's comments at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado earlier in the day in which he discussed ISIS' strong presence on the Internet and through social media.

"It's a very young sort of cyber commanders … out of Syria, sending these direct messages to primarily a lot of young people in the United States," McCaul said. "Thousands of followers, they're trying to activate — to attack, to kill military installations and police officers.

"This is a very different threat and very difficult to stop it and track it all."

The battle for law enforcement is made even tougher because of the Islamic State's reliance on encrypted online communications, known as "dark spaces."

"The dark space is one of the biggest concerns on the part of counterterrorism officials right now," McCaul told Blitzer. "Comey did a good job of explaining how they jump into a direct messaging box and then go into platforms designed specifically to be secure.

"There's no way, even if we have a lawful court order, to be able to access those communications."

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said Wednesday that the Islamic State (ISIS) was "the winning game in town" — enabling the group to attract and radicalize young people in the United States and around the world.